Notes in ledger lines above the staff. The right lines might be considered too far above the staff and written, instead, in 8va notation.

A ledger line or leger line is used in Western musical notation to notate pitches above or below the lines and spaces of the regular musical staff. A line slightly longer than the note head is drawn parallel to the staff, above or below, spaced at the same distance as the lines within the staff (see Figure 1).

Although ledger lines are found occasionally in manuscripts of plainchant and early polyphony, it was only in the early 16th century in keyboard music that their use became at all extensive (Anon. 2001). Even then printers had an aversion to ledger lines which caused difficulties in setting type, wasting space on the page and causing a messy appearance. Vocal music employed a variety of different clefs to keep the range of the part on the staff as much as possible; in keyboard notation a common way of avoiding ledger lines was the use of "open score" on four staves with different clefs (Godwin 1974, 16–17).

Notes more than three or four ledger lines above or below the staff are usually considered hard to read.^{[citation needed]} When there are many notes in a passage requiring more than three ledger lines, it is often preferable to switch clef or use 8va notation. Some transposing instruments, such as the piccolo, double bass, guitar, and the tenor voice, transpose at the octave to avoid ledger lines.

Players of certain instruments prefer ledger lines to clef changes or 8va notation. Clarinetists, for example, would rather read ledger lines in the chalumeau register than read bass clef notes. Flute players would rather read ledger lines for notes in the third octave than read 8va notation because higher flute notes require different fingerings.^{[citation needed]} Notation of tuba, trombone, and euphonium parts always use ledger lines below the bass staff, and never the 8^va bassa notation (Read 1969, 354).

When music for bass clef instruments, such as the cello or trombone, goes several ledger lines above the bass clef, the tenor clef is used; if it were to go even higher than practical in tenor clef, the notes may be notated in treble clef. Notice, the alto clef is not used in these situations.^{[citation needed]}

Other uses[link]

It has been suggested that this article be split into a new article titled Ledger line (tombstones), accessible from a disambiguation page. (May 2012)

A ledger line also refers to the parallel lines incised or sculpted around the edge of the top surface of a mediaeval tombstone, laid on the floor of a church or on a chest tomb, within which lines is inscribed memorial text, generally in gothic script. Thus the phrase "Inscribed on a ledger line", commonly found in the writings of English antiquarians.

References[link]

• Anon. 2001. "Leger [Ledger] Line". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
• Godwin, Joscelyn. 1974. "Playing from Original Notation". Early Music 2, no. 1 (January): 15–19.
• Read, Gardner. 1969. Music Notation: A Manual of Modern Practice, second edition. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Reprinted, New York: Taplinger Publishing Company, 1979.

v t e Musical notation and development Staff Bar & bar line Clef Da capo Dal segno Key signature Ledger line Musical mode Musical scale Rehearsal letter Repeat sign Time signature Transposition Transposing instrument Notes Accidental Flat Natural Sharp Dotted note Grace note Note value Beam Note head Stem Pitch Rest Tuplet Interval Helmholtz pitch notation Letter notation Scientific pitch notation Articulation Dynamics Ornament Trill Mordent Grace note Portato Accent Legato Tenuto Marcato Staccato Staccatissimo Tie Slur Fermata Tonguing Development Cell Coda Exposition Figure Harmony Hook Lick Melody Motif Ossia Ostinato Period Phrase Recapitulation Repetition Rhythm Beat Meter Tempo Theme Tonality Atonality Related Braille music Chord chart Figured bass Graphic notation Lead sheet Eye music Neume Tablature List of musical symbols